Tokyo Dome
| opened = March 17, 1988 | owner = Tokyo Dome Corporation | surface = Fieldturf (2002~) | tenants = Yomiuri Giants (NPB (Central League)) (1988–present) Nippon Ham Fighters (NPB (Pacific League)) (1988–2003) | seating_capacity = 55,000 (baseball), 42,000 (seated in standard configuration) | dimensions = Facility Capacity Area Site: Building: 46,755 m2 (503,270 sq ft) Field: 13,000 m2 (140,000 sq ft) Right, Left: 100 m (328 ft) Center: 122 m (400 ft) Capacity: 1,240,000 m3 (43.8 million cubic feet) }} Tokyo Dome (東京ドーム Tōkyō Dōmu, ) is a 55,000-seat (actual capacity of 42,000) baseball stadium located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and opened for business on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome which was next door to the site of the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium. Like Kōrakuen, the Dome hosts the Toei Superheroes live shows of the year. Tokyo Dome's original nickname was "The Big Egg", with some calling it the "Tokyo Big Egg". Its dome-shaped roof is an air-supported structure, a flexible membrane held up by slightly pressurizing the inside of the stadium. It is the home field of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, and has also hosted basketball, American football and association football games, as well as puroresu (pro-wrestling) matches, mixed martial arts events, kickboxing events, monster truck races, and music concerts. It is also the location of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame which chronicles the history of baseball in Japan. Under the ground rules set up by the dome, any ball which hits or is trapped by the hanging items in outfield area's roof will be ruled as home runs. Hitting any other part of the roof will be considered as in-play. In addition, prize money will be given out if any home run hits the advertisement boards in the scoreboard. Tokyo Dome City Tokyo Dome is part of a greater entertainment complex known as Tokyo Dome City, built of the grounds of the former Tokyo Koishikawa arsenal. Tokyo Dome City includes an amusement park and Tokyo Dome City Attractions (formerly Kōrakuen Grounds). This amusement park occupies the former Korakuen Stadium site and includes a roller coaster named Thunder Dolphin and a hubless Ferris wheel. The grounds also have an onsen called Spa LaQua, various shops, restaurants, video game centers, the largest JRA WINS horse race betting complex in Tokyo, and Oft Korakuen, which caters to rural horse races. Records Mariah Carey's three "Tokyo Dome" shows in 1996 became the fastest sellouts in the stadium's history, when all 150,000 tickets sold out in less than 3 hours.Mariah Carey: revisited In 1998, she also sold 200,000 tickets in under 1 hour.Mariah Carey: revisited Notable performances Bon Jovi was the first international act ever to play at the Tokyo Dome on 31 December 1988. The band has performed total of 15 concerts at Tokyo Dome. American Superstar Janet Jackson Performed at the Dome in 1990, Selling out 4 shows in 7 minutes, Creating the record for the fastest sell out in the history of Tokyo Dome.http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/janet-jackson-announces-rock-witchu-tour-57277207.html Then, L'Arc~en~Ciel improved that record The stadium played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 27, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour. Former Beatle Paul McCartney performed for 6 nights in March 1990 during the Paul McCartney World Tour, 3 nights in November 1993 during The New World Tour, and another 3 nights in November 2002 during the Driving Japan Tour leg of his Driving World Tour. The American megastar Michael Jackson performed on stage more than any other artist or band, a total of 21 concerts. The first nine of them, all sold out, there were days in December 9, 10 & 11; 17, 18 & 19; and 24, 25 & 26, 1988, during his Bad World Tour. Four years later, Jackson returned to perform at Tokyo Dome, this time as part of his Dangerous World Tour, in eight sold out concerts, in days December 12, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24 and 30 & 31, 1992. His last four concerts took place in 1996, on December 12, 15, 17 and 20 of that year, during Michael's HIStory World Tour. More than 1 million people have seen these 21 concerts, more than any other artist in country's history. American superstar Madonna performed 6 shows at the Dome during her 1993 "Girlie Show" on December 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, and 2 shows during her 2006 "Confessions Tour" on September, 20 and 21. Heavy metal band X Japan has performed at Tokyo Dome many times, including: their last concert with former bassist Taiji on January 7, 1992 (On the Verge of Destruction 1992.1.7 Tokyo Dome Live) and their last concert before disbanding on December 31, 1997 (The Last Live Video). The arena also hosted their first concerts after reuniting in 2007; March 28–30, 2008. In February 1992, Guns N' Roses played three sold out shows at the arena during their Use Your Illusion Tour, one of which was released as a 2-part DVD. Nearly 18 years later, with their new line-up, on December 19, 2009, during their Chinese Democracy Tour, they played their longest show in their career, at 3 hours and 37 minutes and longest concert held at the arena. Yellow Magic Orchestra played two sold out concerts at the arena on June 10–11, 1993. This was their only two concerts since their dissolution in 1983 and would be their last until their reformation in 2007.http://www.tokyo-dome.co.jp/e/dome/past_concerts2.htm Japanese Mega-Popstar Ayumi Hamasaki filmed her tour here for the DVD release of Ayumi Hamasaki Dome Tour 2001 A. She held two consecutive concerts on 6 and 7 July 2001. American Pop Superstar Britney Spears performed here on 25 April 2002 as part of her Dream Within a Dream Tour, marking her first show to be held on Asia. Hello! Project performed their Hello! Project Sports Festival at Tokyo Dome. It was the second Sports Festival held by Hello! Project and took place on November 22, 2003. It was released on DVD on New Year's Day. The pop star Gackt's Christmas Eve show on December 24, 2005, holds the record as the most expensive and one of the costliest in Japanese concert history. The concert was estimated by his business partners to have cost ¥500 million (or about $4,296,270) , he and his other performers took two years to plan and six months to rehearse. Starting with an entrance on horseback at full gallop, performances featured twenty dancers, during the performance of "Lust for Blood" he came out of the coffin, the song "Jūnigatsu no Love Song" included an orchestra of 30 musicians, as well as Gackt singing suspended 20m in the air. On July 22, 2007, Kinki Kids held their 10th anniversary concert at Tokyo Dome, which drew a crowd of about 67,000 fans, making it the biggest concert ever held at the Dome. The record was previously held by Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi in 1992 when his concert drew an audience of 65,000. On December 22, 2007, Hey! Say! JUMP held their debut concert "Hey! Say! JUMP Debut & First Concert Ikinari! in Tokyo Dome". They became the youngest group ever to perform in Tokyo Dome average age 15.2 years old. Rock band Luna Sea held a one night reunion concert titled "God Bless You ~One Night Dejavu~" on December 24, 2007. It was their first performance together after they "dropped the curtain" in 2000. The show was broadcast live on NHK BS Hi-vision Satellite and was released on DVD a year later. In August 2008, KAT-TUN broke the record for the longest consecutive days of concerts, when they performed at the stadium for four days in a row. Less than a year later, they broke their own record with concerts eight days in a row from May 15, 2009, as they sold all tickets immediately. In November 3, 2010, Perfume became the second techno-pop unit (after Yellow Magic Orchestra) and second female idol unit (after Speed) to perform at the Dome with their 10th anniversary show titled "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11". The show sold out within hours of tickets going on sale. On 5 to 6 December 2010, Japanese singer Koda Kumi's "Koda Kumi 10th Anniversary ～Fantasia～" concerts were held in Tokyo Dome to celebrate her debut 10th anniversary. The two nights were almost sold out. It was the second time the notable singer held her concert in Tokyo Dome since 2007, when she first came with her "Black Cherry Tour", which was sold out within a very short time since tickets were released. Also in December 2010, Luna Sea performed three consecutive days at the arena during their "20th Anniversary World Tour Reboot -to the New Moon-" limited reunion world tour. The first two (sold out) concerts on December 23–24 were a formal part of the tour, where they performed their popular songs as well as two new ones. The last day, December 25, was a free, black clothing only, concert titled "Lunacy Kurofuku Gentei Gig ~the Holy Night~" with an attendance of 50,000 people, chosen out of the 500,000 applicants where they played only older material. On 3 to 4 December 2011, popular singer and voice actress Nana Mizuki held a two-day concert with one day titled "King's Night" and the other "Queen's Night". This makes her the first voice actress and 8th female solo artist to perform in the Tokyo Dome. In July 28, 2010 best selling Japanese Rock band B'z held the "Ain't No Magic" concert released later on DVD & Blu-ray. The video sold more than 127,000 copies, peaking at #25 on Oricon. Notable events The Dome hosted an annual college football game known as the Coca-Cola Bowl from 1988 to 1993; perhaps the most famous of these games saw Houston Cougars quarterback David Klingler pass for a record 716 yards to lead the 11th-ranked Cougars to a 62-45 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils on December 1, 1990. Tokyo Dome has hosted the two-day X-Trail Jam snowboarding competition seven times since February 2001. The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets played a pair of games here to open the 2000 season, the first time American Major League Baseball teams have played regular season games in Asia. The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played two games there in March of 2004 to open that season. The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics opened the 2008 MLB season in Japan as well. These teams also competed against Japanese teams. The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6–5 in extra innings in the first game. To open the 2012 MLB season the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland A's played a two-game series on March 28–29. In game one Seattle led by Ichiro's 4 hits won 3-1 in 11 innings."Seattle Mariners Oakland athletics open 2012 season Tokyo" ESPN. On March 29, Yoenis Cespedes hit his first career Major League home run, becoming the first player to do so in Japan. In October 2003, the (then) Seattle SuperSonics beat the L.A. Clippers in the first pre season exhibition game of the NBA 2003-2004 season. In August 2005, the Atlanta Falcons beat the Indianapolis Colts 27–20 in the first NFL preseason game of the year in the stadium. Tokyo Dome has hosted several championship prize fights, including the heavyweight boxing championship fight on February 11, 1990, where Mike Tyson suffered his first professional defeat by losing the title to 42–1 shot James "Buster" Douglas by a tenth-round knockout. In 1997, mixed martial arts organization PRIDE Fighting Championships held its first event in the dome and attracted 47,000 fans. Before the team moved to Hokkaido in 2004, the Nippon Ham Fighters also used Tokyo Dome as home ground, and continued to use the dome for several regular season games every season, including inter-league games. New Japan Pro Wrestling holds an annual Tokyo Dome event on January 4, attracting record crowds. It is the most anticipated pro wrestling ("puroresu") event of the year. In popular culture In their song, "The Sounder", the virtual band Gorillaz makes a reference to the Tokyo Dome, saying: "Gorillaz rock the dome just like the one in Tokyo." A scene in the Ben Mezrich book Ugly Americans involves a football game between Ivy League and Japanese all-star teams. In episode 17 of the anime Baki the Grappler, it is revealed that the underground fighting arena for the world's strongest man is on an underground floor of the Tokyo Dome. The dome can actually be seen in NEWS member, Keiichiro Koyama's music video for his solo song, "Love Addiction". References External links *Tokyo Dome official website *Stadium picture *Tokyo Dome Stadium Guide }} Category:Ballparks